Tasted in Chablis with Louis Gimonnet, 14 January 2022.
Château Long-Depaquit
45 Rue Auxerroise
89800 Chablis
Tel: +33 3 86 42 11 13
www.bourgogne-bichot.com/fr/long-depaquit-chablis
More reports for Domaine Long-Depaquit
Louis Gimonnet is the new face at Long-Depaquit, having been here for about 6 months. He was, for a time, with the Clos de Commaraine in Pommard, spent some time in California and Oregon and also worked in consulting in Champagne for a time with LVMH.
Louis on 2021:
“I arrived after the frost but not too late for fighting its after-effects and the mildew and the oïdium – the window for ‘infection’ was very wide in 2021 because of the second generation of leaves augmenting the first that survived the frost. In the end it was about one-third of a normal harvest, just a bit more in volume in the grand crus on the hillside. On the top of the hills it was the snow that caused more damage than the frost. We have 2 parcels high and mid-slope in Les Clos – the top brought 3 hl/ha the middle 18…”
Louis on 2020:
“2020 also started very early with warm weather but it was cold in April/May so that retarded the vines a little. I would say a good volume – we averaged 43 hl/ha so roughly a normal year for here – certainly more than in 2019, for instance. Correct fermentations with pHs in the range of 3.2-3.28 the latter for the riper GCs. I think it’s a vintage that’s very accessible”
The wines…
I have the impression that I tasted a little more oak than I’m used to here but this is a seriously fine range with a number of cuvées that are worth a special search!
All sealed with DIAM and the grand crus were bottled just at the end of December:
2020 Chablis
100% tank fermented, no oak. This cuvée usually represents about 30 hectares worth of vines from all around Chablis over both banks.
Hmm – that’s got an attractive sweetness and it’s faintly perfumed too – inviting. Supple, concentrated with a touch of phenolic texture, a suggestion of reduction too. A wine whose flavour broadens impressively over the palate. Long and tasty. That’s very good.
2020 Chablis 1er Les Lys
2 left-bank hectares worth. A more N-E exposure, almost unique for the 1ers, with less stones and more clay here so more acidity and florality.
Much broader and more mineral in aromatic style – adding flowers too. Larger in scale – melting with fine mineral flavour – that’s delicious today – maybe there’s something in the background that might develop in a less attractive, green, way – I’m not sure. But it’s delicious now, so I’d drink this young – I particularly like the finish
This 2.3 hectare parcel is in the sub climate of Vaillons; Long-Depaquit was originally the only producer, but a couple more are declaring under this label now, rather than using the Vaillons label. ‘If you don’t take care here this can really go over-ripe very quickly – so the date of picking is crucial – the parcel is protected by the forest.’
A narrower but deeper nose, slowly expanding in the glass. Extra clarity and super fluidity to this wine. It’s mineral in style rather than fruit dominated – of course there’s still a nice agrume and citric acidity – but this is texturally fine and delicious – holding impressively in the finish. Bravo!
A large cuvée of 4.3 hectares, from Les Epinottes (90%) plus a little Lys and Beugnons. Elevage with 10% 2-5 year-old oak, essentially from Vosges. Then blended back into tank.
That’s nice – it’s wider and more overtly complex from the start – a very attractive nose. Fresh, incisive of course mineral, but the citrus is more evident and mouth-watering here – pure Chablis again but more towards the fruit with this one. Bravo again, impressively great finishing too – just a different face to the Beugnons.
2020 Chablis 1er Vaucoupins
5 hectares from Chichée, the exposure resembles Vaudesir. ‘A pivot wine between the 1er and grand crus here.’
A broader nose – there’s some ripe fruit but these aromas major on a deeper, faintly reductive minerality. In the mouth too – it’s a blend of riper fruit but finely fresh citrus-inflected minerality. I personally prefer the previous two but this has a great, very impressive finish.
2020 Chablis 1er Les Montmains
20% oak elevage. From Forêts
Broadened by a little oak – the first wine that shows some. Full, silken, really mouth-filling. Complex – actually gorgeously – flavoured. Just the oak is destabilizing a little today – wait 12 months and you probably won’t notice.
2020 Chablis Les Blanchots
1.5 hectares from the end of the valley, near the trees, almost always harvested 1 week after Les Clos.
Tighter – in bottle 3 weeks – here’s a faint salinity, very slowly growing in the glass. Mouth-filling, quite wide and panoramic – saline accented citrus and a really super texture to this concentrated but mobile and mouth-watering wine. That’s really an excellent thing. The oak is shaping this wine but, save the end of the finish today, is largely invisible. That’s a slightly contemplative but absolutely delicious wine.
2020 Chablis Les Vaudésirs
2.6 hectares of 47-year-old vines. Always harvested at the same time as the Moutonne.
More open, showing a wider vibration of minerality. More direct and incisive – then comes the concentration – this is really a very fine Vaudésir – a wine of personality – which I find rare for the cru – a touch oak but it’s really only a small part of the complexity here. I think this excellent – give it 3 years before starting your relationship…
1.5 hectares worth from 2 plots.
Similarly open to the Vaudésir but this nose is characterized by an airy volume. Nicely incisive, showing a fine and pure minerality – growing in intensity too. Framed with a faint tannin this wine has a bit of everything. Poised, almost a little tension. I think a great grand cru – the finish narrower but far from a modest length.
2020 Chablis La Moutonne
2.3 hectares that sits 95% in Vaudésir and 5% in Preuses. Like the previous three – this with 1/3rd or less barrel in the elevage
This nose goes wider and deeper, a little of the fleshiness of a Preuses. Wide, silky, overtly mineral but not a structure of angles or walls – all remains calm and smooth. The finish is the largest of all so far, layered and with a slightly warmer, spiced, fruit. Delicious.
The most open of these noses, extra ripeness of fruit and just a little oak – I don’t, at this stage, recognize Preuses but it still has my attention! Slowly becoming more floral perfumed – it’s changing all the time. Supple, mobile, concentrated – the flesh of agrumes accented with white peach too – rich but mouth-watering and moreish. That’s very impressive wine – I think great in 10 years – it should be more than excellent before that too!
2020 Chablis Les Bougros
The most open and airy – it’s a fine invitation. Mouth-filling – concentration here, extra ripeness of fruit too. A generous wine of richness and just enough energy visible today to balance that – as the fruit slowly narrows with age the balance will be more overt. The finish is broad and delicious despite a noticeable creamy accent of the barrel. That’s very good today – if a little oaky – and it will only improve with time.